Is it appropriate for an individual to end their life through physician-assisted suicide in developed countries, specifically in the United States?
Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) is the voluntary termination of one’s own life by the administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. The assistance of a physician for a terminally ill patient to commit their own suicide, has been a much debated topic in developed countries. It is a much bigger topic in developed countries than in developing countries due to the advances of medicine. It is argued that physician-assisted suicide shouldn’t be legalized because of religious and moral reasons. Additionally, PAS is incompatible with the doctor’s role as a healer. However, physician-assisted suicide should be legalized because patients should have the option to choose if they want to end their life. It is a way for people to be able to die with dignity and without indefinite suffering.
Medical advances in developed countries has saved the lives of more individuals than ever before. Developments in the field of medicine have benefited terminal patients by reducing their pain and suffering. Medical advances can however prolong the death of a patient when they are in the final stages of dying. Many argue that this has resulted in patients not being able to end their life with dignity, particularly individuals who understand they are terminally ill. Terminally ill patients can live
Imagine laying in a hospital bed living everyday in extreme pain with no hope of getting better. This scenario explains what many people go through everyday, which is a living with a terminal illness. M. Lee, a science historian, and Alexander Stingl a sociologist, define terminal illness as “an illness from which the patient is not expected to recover even with treatment. As the illness progresses death is inevitable” (1). There are not many options for the terminally ill besides dying a slow and painful death, but assisted suicide could be best option for these patients. Assisted suicide is “any case in which a doctor gives a patient (usually someone with a terminal illness) the means to carry out their own suicide by using a lethal dose of medication” (Lee and Stingl 1). Some feel that assisted suicide is unnecessary because it is too great of a controversy and will only cause problems in society. However, assisted suicide should be legal in the United States as long as there are strict regulations to accompany it.
In homes across the world, millions of victims are suffering from fatal and terminal illnesses.With death knocking on their door, should these people have to endure pain and misery knowing what is to come? The answers to these questions are very controversial. Furthermore, there is a greater question to be answered—should these people have the right and option to end the relentless pain and agony through physician assisted death? Physician-Assisted Suicide PAS is highly contentious because it induces conflict of several moral and ethical questions such as who is the true director of our lives. Is suicide an individual choice and should the highest priority to humans be alleviating pain or do we suffer for a purpose? Is suicide a purely
Imagine you have a terminal illness. You are in immense, overwhelming, and constant pain, and it grows hard to bear. The medical bills are rapidly rising to keep you alive, and you know your family is going into debt. Waking up every day hurts more than the last, and the doctors say you have a month, if that, to live. They have checked your results and they know there is nothing you can do but wait. You often find yourself wishing there was a way you could have a peaceful, safe end to everything, surrounded by your family and loved ones. They can get out of debt and go back to their normal lives, and you will be in good hands and choose when you go. Assisted suicide is the practice that can allow an individual to do just that. It is when one
Throughout the twentieth century, major scientific and medical advances have greatly enhanced the life expectancy of the average person. However, there are many instances where doctors can preserve life artificially. When society ponders over the idea of physician-assisted suicide, they most likely feel that the act itself would compare to murdering someone. Who really has the authority to say what is right or wrong when a loved one wants to end their life because of a terminal illness or a severe physical disability? Should Physician-assisted suicide be Legal in California to make it a euthanasia state like Oregon ? In the article titled “Nicest Lawmaker Touts Assisted Suicide,” by Clea Benson published The Bakersfield Californian in 2006, the author presents a Republican lawmaker Patty Berg, who is groom pushing a bill allowing assisted suicide be legal in California. Physician assisted suicide should be allowed to those who are terminally ill with a limited amount of time left to live, and shouldn’t be eligible for people who are young, healthy, or have plenty of time to live.
Ezekiel Emanuel once said, “Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia have been profound ethical issues confronting doctors since the birth of Western medicine, more than 2,000 years ago.” Physician assisted suicide (PAS) should be available as a dignified option for the terminally ill because it can be built in to the palliative care plan formulated by patient and Doctor, may alleviate some medical costs for the incurable, and it’s a moderated and humane way to end a person’s suffering.
Brittany Maynard was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor at the age of twenty-nine. She was given six months to live and the option of full brain radiation. If she chose to go with radiation, it could have caused her to experience the following: fatigue, nausea, memory loss, and speech loss. She began to research physician-assisted suicide and decided that it was the best choice she had left. Physician-assisted suicide is the act of a doctor ending a terminally ill patient’s life using lethal drugs. As of modern day, physician-assisted suicide is only legal in 6 states which include; Oregon, Montana, Washington, Vermont, California, and Colorado. Luckily, she lived near Oregon: one of the six states to have it legalized. She went through with it to end the suffering. More states should legalize physician-assisted suicide because it would let people who are terminally ill die with tranquility and dignity.
A tough issue on the rise in the United States is whether or not Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) should be legal. Physician Assisted Suicide allows a physician to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to a patient to end their life. However, the patient has to take the drugs on their own. PAS would be only offered to those suffering from a terminal illness with less than six months to live. The way these patients go about treating and or living with a terminal illness is a very hard decision to make. This is the first time they have been given the choice of how they wish to die. PAS is an option that allows the sick to avoid the immense pain in their final months. The issue however, is whether this allows them to die with dignity or if it allows them to be taken advantage of.
Life is a delicate subject to address, especially when it comes to the end thereof. Oftentimes, talking about death is a sensitive and therefore controversial subject. In America, citizens are allowed to hold and express their personal ideologies and beliefs, which has created a lot of discussion about whether or not it should be legal for doctors to help terminally ill patients peacefully end their lives. This is commonly referred to as Aid-In-Dying. The human experience is filled with many difficulties and sufferings. In the dreadful circumstance that someone is diagnosed as terminally ill, why would anyone want him or her to continue to suffer? When a human being is dying and experiencing excruciating pain, they absolutely should have
When it comes to the topic of, should physician-assisted suicide be legal in every state, most of us will readily agree that it should be up to a terminally ill person to make that decision. Whereas some are convinced that it is inhumane, others maintain that it is a person’s decision to end their own life. I agree that physician-assisted suicide should be legal in every state because in most cases, people that are terminally ill should have the right to end their own life with the assistance of a physician.
Physician-assisted suicide is one of the most controversial subjects in the medical field. Whether the debate is, “Should a doctor be allowed to assist in someone’s suicide?” or, “Is it the right thing to do for a dying patient?” Seeing a loved one in pain can possibly be one of the hardest things to do. But what if they were given the option to the stop the suffering? Knowing that death may be months, weeks, or days away comes along with a lot of time at hospitals, pain, and suffering. Giving terminally ill patients an option of physician-assisted suicide allows the patient to be in charge of ending all their pain and suffering they will go through as well as passing at the comfort of their family at home and not in a hospital bed.
Physician-assisted suicide is “the voluntary termination of one's own life by administration of a lethal substance with the direct or indirect assistance of a physician. Physician-assisted suicide is the practice of providing a competent patient with a prescription for medication for the patient to use with the primary intention of ending his or her own life” (MedicineNet.com, 2004). Many times this ethical issue arises when a terminally-ill patient with and incurable illness, whom is given little time to live, usually less than six-months, has requested a physician’s assistance in terminating one’s life. This practice with the terminally ill is known as euthanasia. Physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia is a controversial topic
Having the right to life, also gives one the right to death. Outrageously, physician assisted suicide is illegal in all but five states in the U.S; including California, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Vermont; this law, violating rules of ethics, also defies morals. Some actions in the past, including women not having voting rights, and experimentation on prisoners and the mentally ill, also infringed upon ethics and morale. Women not being permitted to vote before the 19th Amendment--Women’s Suffrage Act--opposed the logic of equality, likewise, experiments on prisoners and the mentally incompetent violated the 8th Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment (“CRS Annotated Constitution”). One cannot help but wonder, will physician assisted suicide be legal in all states, a century from now? Because people in America are given the right to LIFE, liberty, and property, they should also be given the choice of ending their pain more swiftly.
Every thirty-eight seconds, there is a suicide attempt in the United States (Suicide Statistics). Why does a person consider taking their own life? The answer is never simple. Loss, mental illness, physical illness, failure, and substance abuse are some of the leading causes of suicide. The taking of a life is considered a tragedy. It greatly harms the people closest to the victim and society as a whole. Why then do some people support physician-assisted suicide, the prescription of lethal drugs by a doctor as requested by a patient? Some claim that with the right to life comes the right to death. Others wish to end the suffering of those with terminal illnesses. However, if physician-assisted suicide is permitted, the likelihood of terminating life without consent increases. Physician-assisted suicide should be illegal because it is both unnecessary and immoral. Passive assisted suicide exists legally, providing the right to a natural death. The legalization of active assisted suicide would lead to wrongful extermination of life due to poor
"Physician assisted-suicide," "Euthanasia"-call it what you may. This is one of the most emotionally debated subjects effecting our lives today. Generally people in the community are either all for the legalization of physician assisted-suicide or totally against it. There are no laws in the United States making it is illegal to take one's own life. In fact, people all around the world take their own lives on a daily basis either purposely or accidentally. Are you for it or against it? Let me give you an example of why I am wholeheartedly all for physician assisted suicide. My 30 year old brother had been diagnosed with stage four pancreatitis. The doctors stated there is no cure, but could try chemo and radiation therapy to extend his life. My brother was a hard-working, compassionate and free-spirited man. Tom would give the shirt off his back and would pull over to the side of the road to help a complete stranger if they needed it. My brother was very stubborn, so it was no surprise that he opted
Physician assisted suicide should be morally permissible. Patients who are in constant suffering and pain have the right to end their misery at their own discretion. This paper will explore my thesis, open the floor to counter arguments, explain my objections to the counter arguments, and finally end with my conclusion. I agree with Brock when he states that the two ethical values, self-determination and individual well-being, are the focal points for the argument of the ethical permissibility of voluntary active euthanasia (or physician assisted suicide). These two values are what drives the acceptability of physician assisted suicide because it is the patients who choose their treatment options and how they want to be medically treated. Patients are physically and emotionally aware when they are dying and in severe pain, therefore they can make the decision to end the suffering through the option of physician assisted suicide.